With an enrollment of close to 900, Central Catholic is at capacity and has had to employ a waiting list for the first time in recent memory. To accommodate the climbing number of students, eight new faculty have been hired. Central Catholic also has hired Mike Pinder as new development director, and Natalie Osburn as athletic director.

Pinder is a 1977 Central Catholic graduate and comes to the school from a career in the paper industry, and Osburn, who began her career in education at Central Catholic, was most recently the assistant superintendent of the David Douglas School District.

In order to ease congestion during pick-up and drop-off periods and increase the number of parking spaces directly around the school, Central Catholic has added a parking lot on 24th Ave and Stark Street, and has widened 24th Avenue from Stark Street to Pine Street. In addition, angle parking has been added on 26th Avenue along the grounds of Lone Fir Cemetery, and a number of intersections have undergone safety improvements. The new parking lot will be reserved for students, faculty and staff who carpool.

Central Catholic has added classes and made improvements to its Student Support Services program. New courses include theoretical physics, which discusses topics related to modern theories of space, time and cosmology, and We the People, a course that will enhance students’ understanding of democracy and government through the study of the U.S. Constitution.

The school’s Student Support Services has added a language arts lab and a math lab that is meant to supplement students’ learning as they navigate the core curriculum. With the Student Support Services program in place, Central Catholic is now able to accept students who need additional academic resources to handle the rigorous curriculum.

Central Catholic hopes to expand the services in the future, but for now, its focus is on creating a robust program that works well with the current curriculum.